The Last Stand...
-cue epic theme music-
The Breach was closed. I stood by the Chantry, looking out over the town as the people celebrated.
"You're not celebrating?" Cassandra's voice came from behind me, and I simply shot her a look over my shoulder.
"No." My eyes were searching, searching for someone…but I couldn't really figure out who I was looking for. "That was too easy." Cassandra crossed her arms.
"Maybe. But we will find out who murdered the Most Holy, and what caused the explosion at the Conclave." She sounded so sure of herself.
"I hope so. It seems that we have so little to go on. We haven't heard anything from Redcliffe, either." I muttered the last bit, sighing.
"I am not an expert on matters of the heart," Cassandra began, and I looked at her confused. "But I think you should try to speak with the Commander. Whatever happened between you two…"
"Happened, and it's done." I replied, feeling a sharp pain in my chest. I did my best to ignore it.
"So you say." I sighed, exasperated. I looked at Cassandra, pleadingly silently.
"I…saw him, in the dream with Envy." I said quietly. Cassandra suddenly seemed infinitely more interested in what I was saying. "I…can't deny…I haven't-haven't thought about…him, as more than the commander…" I couldn't stop the heat in my cheeks from burning, and after everything that had happened in the last two months since I had woken up a prisoner here, just…everything seemed to continue to spin out of control. "But…I can't. I can't let it be more." I clenched my fists involuntarily.
"Why not?" she asked bluntly, and I sighed, feeling my eyes begin to water.
"I already can't stand the idea of losing him." I whispered, and I looked at the older woman again, searching her face for some kind of understanding. "It's stupid, we barely know each other, and-"
The ringing of the bells cut me off. We heard Cullen shouting in the distance to head to the gates. It didn't take but a moment to leap down from the wall to rush to the gates with the others.
"Cullen?" Cassandra's voice was laced with worry.
"One watchguard reporting. It's a massive force, the bulk over the mountain." He motioned to the mountains in the distance. He was calm, collected; everything that I definitely was not at the given moment.
"Under what banner?" Josephine's voice sounded so melodic over the din that was rising in the hills around us. I double checked myself; I had all of my weapons on me still. I saw Varric, Solas, Vivienne, Sera, Blackwall, Cole, and the Iron Bull had managed to make it to our tight circle of leaders by the gate.
"None." The finality in Cullen's voice was not one that sat well with me.
"None?" Josephine sounded completely surprised. I stepped forward to the gate, feeling an intense burst of magic from the other side, light flashing beneath it.
"If someone could open this, I'd appreciate it!" a rugged voice called from the other side, and I ran to push the gates open. I opened it to find a single man, an extremely attractive man, kneeling amidst a circle of bodies. He supported himself on his staff; a mage, and a powerful one. I ran out to him, barely realizing Cullen had run out with me.
"Ah! I have to come to warn you, fashionably late though I'm afraid." he said, trying to stand up, only to almost fall back down before Cullen caught him easily with one arm, helping him stand back up. "Mite exhausted. Don't mind me." He stood up on his own, shaking himself off firmly, as though some invisible hand had been holding him. He had a fantastic mustache, also with quite lovely hair and a rather…interesting flair for clothing. No one would have been able to deny how handsome this man was. He was handsome in a different way from what Cullen was; Cullen was more rugged, while this man seemed more refined. Regardless of my thoughts, the man brought me back to the immediate threat at hand.
"My name is Dorian Pavus, and I bring grave news from Redcliffe." He looked from me to Cullen, then back to me. "An army of rebel mages, right behind me." Cullen and I exchanged looks; I felt fear grip my insides. "They are under the command of the Venatori, in service to something called 'The Elder One'."
"That's what the Envy demon was talking about, along with the Knight-Lieutenant at Therinfal Redoubt." I breathed, glancing fearfully at Cullen. Cullen, if was afraid, did not show it.
"The woman is Calpernia. For that…" Dorian pointed up to a hill not too far away. I saw a woman mage standing upon it, and as Dorian spoke, smoke billowed from behind her, and a huge Darkspawn came walking up behind her.
"Is that…?" I left the question in the air.
"A Darkspawn?" Cullen's low voice sent a chill down my spine, and not in the good way.
"That is the Elder One." Dorian's voice was low. We could see the lights moving closer and closer to us; they were almost upon Haven. "They were already marching on Haven. I did everything I could to get here first."
"Cullen, give me a plan. Anything." I immediately turned to him, pleading. He turned to look at me.
"Haven is no fortress." His voice was calculated with years of combat and the surety of giving orders; even in a situation such as this. "If we are to defeat this monster, we must control the battle."
"Very well. Cassandra! Varric! Solas! With me!" I turned, barking orders myself. "Everyone else, with the Commander!" My trio rushed to my side, heading towards the trebuchet in front of us. I heard Cullen's rallying call to the troops, and felt my heart skip a beat. We would not be crushed so easily.
-.-.-.-.
"Herald! Our position is not good." We had just slammed the doors of the Chantry shut when Cullen found me by the door, and he ran over to me, his armor spattered in blood, his usually perfect hair unkempt as he came up to me. I winced, ignoring the stabbing pain in my thigh where someone had stabbed me, and I stood as straight as I could as he came up to me. "That dragon stole back any time you may have won us. There has been no communication; only advance after advance." He gestured with his arms as he spoke; I blinked, leaning against the stone wall by the door as I tried to think.
"There was no bargaining with the mages either." Dorian had half carried Chancellor Roderick in; it was obvious the man was dying. "This Elder One takes what it wants." He said as he helped the Chancellor into a chair, kneeling next to him. "From what I gathered, it marched all this way to take your Herald." It was silent for a moment.
"Then I will go to him." I said quietly, and I avoided Cullen's gaze, afraid of what I might see there.
"An assassin might take you up on that," Dorian said lightly, "But this force has not seemed concerned about specifics. And such a promising start with the landslide…" he chuckled darkly. "If only trebuchets remained an option."
"They are, if we turn the last of them to the mountain above us." I looked at Cullen.
"No. To hit the enemy we'd bury Haven-" he cut me off sharply.
"This is not survivable now." Cullen's voice was low as he stepped closer to me, so as the soldiers and townsfolk wouldn't hear him. "Now it is just a matter of how spitefully we end this."
"Well that's not acceptable." Dorian stood up and came to join our little discussion group. I was still leaning against the wall, one hand on my thigh, feeling blood begin to seep through my fingers as Dorian spoke, voicing the opinion I couldn't. "I didn't race here only to have you drop rocks on my head."
"Should we submit?" Cullen stepped in front of Dorian, placing himself between Dorian and I. "Do we let him kill us?" the anger and spite in his voice just made me realize that this…this could be the end.
"Dying is typically a last resort, not first!" Dorian spat out. "For a Templar, you think like a blood mage."
"There is a path." Chancellor Roderick's weak voice turned all of our heads towards him. "You wouldn't know it unless you took the summer pilgrimage, as I have…" he coughed, blood splattering his usually pristine robes. "The people can escape. She must have shown me…Andraste must have shown me the way…so I could tell you." He somehow managed to stand up, and Dorian was at his side again, helping him stand. I took a breath; then another. I heard the roar of the dragon outside; the sweeping of it's wings, the thundering of it flying through the air, and the advancement of this rebel mage army. I decided.
"Cullen. Can you lead them out?" I looked at him, his eyes meeting mine.
"Possibly, if he shows us the path." Cullen's eyes searched my own. "But what of your escape?" his voice was gentle, quiet, and I turned away from him, unable to let him see the choice I had already made written plainly on my face.
"Ah, perhaps you can surprise the Elder One after all." Dorian said lightly, but I continued to focus on what I was about to do. I closed my eyes as I heard Cullen rally the Inquisition to head out the back onto the secret path that the Chancellor knew of.
"Herald…" I looked up at the chancellor as Dorian draped the man's arm over his shoulder. "If you are meant for this, if the Inquisition is meant for this…then I pray for you." And Dorian led him away, to lead the others to safety. A few soldiers ran out of the Chantry doors, and I finally stood up to stand face to face with Cullen as he approached me again.
"They'll load the trebuchets. Keep the Elder One's attention until we're above the treeline." I couldn't have admired him more then in that moment. He knew we were all probably going to die, yet he was still giving orders, trying his best to remain calm because he knew he had to be. I couldn't help but smile softly at him, even as Cassandra, Varric, and Solas informed us they'd be staying with me. I looked at my small group of friends; I closed my eyes briefly, nodding at the three of them before looking at Cullen. Trying his best to remain calm because he knew he had to be. I couldn't help but smile softly at him, even as Cassandra, Varric, and Solas informed us they'd be staying with me. I looked at my small group of friends; I closed my eyes briefly, nodding at the three of them before looking at Cullen. "If we are to have a chance-if you are to have a chance, make sure that thing hears you." Despite the pain in my leg, the blood on my hands, on my armor, I suddenly ran up to him, placing a light, chaste kiss on the side of his mouth, near his scar.
"Ma nuvenin, ma serannas." I whispered, knowing I would always remember how his stubble felt under my lips, how his smell had filled my senses despite the smoke and the fire, how he stared at me with such a mix of emotion I couldn't help but laugh lightly at him. "Now go." And with that I turned and ran out of the Chantry doors, drawing my daggers as I did so.
-.-.-.-.-.
"Fuck the cold." I muttered, holding my arms close to my sides as I stole through the dark, icy tunnels I had found myself in. "Fuck spirits. Fuck Coryphe-fucking magister darkspawn piece of shit. Fuck the wind-" a new string of curses tumbled from my mouth as I left the shelter of the tunnel and collapsed, quite suddenly, onto an endless plain of snow. "Snow. It had to be snow. He couldn't have had tropical magic that covered the mountains in white sand and warm-fire!" I rushed as hurriedly as I could towards a glow in the distance, only to discover it was a cart that was somehow still burning. "So fuck that guy, fuck this, fuck the sky…" it wasn't hard to realize that muttering incessantly to myself was a good way to stay awake and motivate myself to keep walking against the wind, into the storm, through freshly fallen snow.
No matter how many times I replayed it in my head as I continued forward, it was still hard to wrap my head around what had happened. I brought down a mountain on myself, I somehow survived, and now I had to find what was left of the Inquisition. I had to. I took a moment to lean against one of the many trees that surrounded me in the white snowstorm. My legs were numb; I was thankful for that, at least.
"Stumble…from the…ashes…." I breathed into the air as I heard a wolf howling in the night. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. Fan. Fucking. Tastic. I thought, cursing. I began to walk again, using the hand with the mark-no, the Anchor-to light the way. "Lost…enigmas….in….the dust…." I was breathing the words of a song I had heard in a pub in Redcliffe. For some reason, the song had stuck with me.
"I…cannot remember…." I pushed on through the snow. Climbing. "Though….they tell me…" my knees sank halfway into the snow now. "That I must…."
My hair was frozen to my face; my lips blistered and bleeding from the wind or a wound, I couldn't tell anymore.
"Hold on…" I could barely whisper anymore, walking away from a campsite that had just had slightly warm embers left. "Hold on…to what you….fight…for…" Still with the stupid song in my head. But it kept me moving. At least I could see now, I thought. "Hold on…." I pulled myself along the side of the mountain using every bit of strength I had left. How long had I walked…? I saw the lights in the distance.
"Maker. Creators." My voice was hardly there. "Whoever…it is…I tried…" and with that, I felt my knees give out right as I heard the shouting, and the world going dark.
Lines from the song she's singing is actually from a song called "Hold On", by Miracle of Sound, on youtube. It is an amazing video about Dragon Age, and the lyrics are in tune to the game and it's so awesome and amazing and inspirational I mean come on I love it.
Anyway. Love y'all. :) Happy New Year's!
...annnnnnnnnnnd I may have snuck in a line from "Frozen" in there. DON'T JUDGE ME MY DAUGHTER IS 18 MONTHS OLD OKAY